Marian Kołodziej. An Attempt to Come to Terms with Trauma

Dr. Radosław Folga

Conference opening address: TRANS-FORMATION OF TRAUMA. DIFFERENT WAYS OF PROCESSING TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES will take place in the unique setting of Oświęcim and the building of the Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki State University of Małopolska. This is where the first transport of 728 Polish prisoners to KL Auschwitz was brought on June 14, 1940. This space serves not only as a historical backdrop but also as a symbolic invitation to reflect on the consequences of extreme experiences and on the various ways of processing them.

The focus of the presentation will be a profile of the late Marian Kołodziej—set designer, artist, and former prisoner of the first transport to Auschwitz—as an example of the complex, long-term processes involved in coping with trauma. For over fifty years, Marian Kołodziej did not speak publicly about his camp experience. This prolonged period of silence can be interpreted as a difficulty in integrating extreme experiences that do not lend themselves easily to verbalization. It was only a serious illness that served as the impetus to launch his creative process, resulting in a series of works entitled “Negatives of Memory”—hundreds of drawings constituting a personal, visual record of traumatic memory.

Marian Kołodziej’s story illustrates how the creative process can help survivors of genocide regain their inner coherence by revealing their traumatic past to themselves and others through visual art. An analysis of Marian Kołodziej’s case raises questions about the complexity of working with trauma, the potential of artistic expression as a medium mediating between experience and its symbolization, and the limits and potential of visual language in the face of extreme experiences. Marian Kołodziej’s work was not an intentional artistic testimony in the classical sense, but—as he himself emphasized—an attempt to “draw words” that could not be spoken otherwise. His biography shows that the process of trauma transformation can be long- term, nonlinear, and ambiguous, and that post-traumatic growth is neither an obvious nor an automatic consequence of suffering.

This presentation is intended to show Marian Kołodziej as a symbol of the human struggles associated with trauma—silence, inner conflict, delayed expression, and the creative processing of extreme experiences—and, at the same time, as a starting point for further interdisciplinary reflection on the various paths to emerging from the “trauma trance.”

Between Memory and the Future. On the Transformation of Trauma and Identity

Igor Rotberg

Traumatic experiences force people to activate defense mechanisms that enable them to survive, but often cut them off from living life to the fullest. This presentation will show how therapeutic work helps individuals move from chaotic, fragmented memories toward a possible future in which their identity gradually regains its coherence.

The theoretical framework will consist of the four post-traumatic trajectories described by Éva Kállay: surrender, survival, return to equilibrium, and growth and development. Each of these requires different clinical interventions, such as stabilization and regulation, integration of bodily sensations, corrective experiences within the therapeutic relationship, and reconstruction of the biographical narrative. In the healing process, identity is rebuilt by integrating episodic, affective, and bodily memory within a safe relationship that provides space for mourning and the cautious planning of the future.

Post-traumatic growth remains merely a possibility, whereas the primary goal of therapy is a safe return to balance and the ability to function effectively in daily life. The presentation will also demonstrate how working with collective memory, education, and symbols facilitates the transition from silence to dialogue, from isolation to cooperation. Kállay’s approach clarifies this roadmap and grounds expectations regarding the healing process.

Psychotherapy for Holocaust survivors in Poland thirty years later

Prof. Katarzyna Prot-Klinger, Ph.D., and Krzysztof Szwajca, M.D., Ph.D.

We will share our experiences of participating in a psychotherapy program designed for Holocaust survivors in Poland. The program, initiated by Professor Maria Orwid, is the only psychotherapy program aimed at this group in Poland.

We will summarize the changes that have taken place over the course of this 30-year experience in psychotherapy with Holocaust survivors. In our lecture, we will address both developments in trauma theory and social changes in Poland. Changes in trauma theory have led to the acceptance of a dynamic and multi-layered approach to the survivors’ experiences. Social changes help in gaining access to absent or repressed memories. We will demonstrate the transformation of our patients, as well as our own work in relation to engaging with this difficult area of trauma.

The trauma of betrayal “imprinted on the body.” How can we come to terms with our wounds?

Prof. Katarzyna Schier, Ph.D.

The presentation will address the issue of betrayal trauma. Various forms of this type of trauma will be discussed: early childhood trauma, betrayal in romantic relationships, institutional betrayal, and collective betrayal trauma affecting social groups.

The point of reference will be attachment theory and selected psychodynamic theories. The author will present the consequences of this type of interpersonal trauma for a person’s functioning. Particular attention will be devoted to the issues of the body and corporeality, including the experience of shame. Reflection will be given to coping strategies, that is, the possibilities of “coming to terms with the wounds.” The theoretical theses will be illustrated by the results of empirical research and clinical examples.

Breaking the Closed System of Trauma Time

Dr. Jo Stubley

Traumatic events can disrupt the experience of linear or chronological time, which Ogden refers to as diachronic time. From Freud’s concepts of Nachträglichkeit (retroactive meaning-making) and the compulsion to repeat, through Fairbairn’s “closed system,” Winnicott’s “fear of breakdown,” to Fonagy’s “epistemic trust”—many psychoanalytic authors have emphasized how trauma leads to a loss of historical continuity, making the past perpetually present in synchronic time.

Our growing understanding of dissociative mechanisms contributes significantly to this recognition. How can we break through the closed system of a traumatized psyche, allowing the dialectical interplay between the past and the present, as well as between diachronic and synchronic time, to emerge within the analytical space? Is this the process of transformation, and how can we understand it?